pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · RuntimeException

Unable to get value of cell (" + cell.getColumnIndex() + "…

Error message

Unable to get value of cell (" + cell.getColumnIndex() + ", " + cell.getRowIndex() + ")

What it means

PoiCell.getValue() reads the typed value of an Apache POI cell and wraps any Exception in a RuntimeException naming the cell's column and row index. It is thrown when POI's typed accessors (getNumericCellValue, getStringCellValue, etc.) fail for the cell's underlying data — typically a formula evaluation error or a data-format problem.

Solutions

Check e.getCause() to identify the failing POI operation and fix the cell at its root.
Re-open the source file in Excel/LibreOffice, re-save, and retry to normalize cell types.
If formulas are involved, ensure the workbook is loaded with formula evaluation enabled or pre-compute the values.
Upgrade the POI version bundled with Pentaho, as some type-handling bugs are POI-side.

Example fix

// before
Object v = cell.getValue(); // may throw
// after
Object v;
try { v = cell.getValue(); }
catch (RuntimeException e) {
  log.logError("Cell " + cell.getColumn() + "," + cell.getRow() + " unreadable: " + e.getMessage());
  v = null;
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

Object v = null; try { v = cell.getValue(); } catch (RuntimeException ignored) {} // probe readability before use

Type guard

boolean hasValue(KCell c) { try { return c.getValue() != null; } catch (RuntimeException e) { return false; } }

Try / catch

try { Object v = cell.getValue(); } catch (RuntimeException e) { handleUnreadableCell(cell.getColumn(), cell.getRow(), e.getCause()); }

Prevention

Pre-compute or strip formulas in source files
Re-save workbooks in Excel/LibreOffice to normalize cell types
Check the cause chain for POI-specific errors
Keep the bundled POI version up to date

When it happens

Trigger: Calling value()/getValue() on a PoiCell when the switch on the cell's detected type dispatches to a POI getter that throws — e.g. a FORMULA cell whose evaluation fails, or type detection disagreeing with the stored cell type.

Common situations: Spreadsheets containing formulas requiring evaluation that POI cannot resolve; cells with unsupported or malformed types; files produced by tools that write inconsistent cell type metadata.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to read file", EACCES, ENOENT and "could not read <path>" errors: when a program can't read a file from disk — this error's family across 49 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bafc68e1915b422a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/excel/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/excelinput/poi/PoiCell.java:93

        case DATE:
          // Timezone conversion needed since POI doesn't support this apparently
          //
          long time = cell.getDateCellValue().getTime();
          long tzOffset = TimeZone.getDefault().getOffset( time );

          return new Date( time + tzOffset );
        case NUMBER_FORMULA:
        case NUMBER:
          return Double.valueOf( cell.getNumericCellValue() );
        case STRING_FORMULA:
        case LABEL:
          return cell.getStringCellValue();
        case EMPTY:
        default:
          return null;
      }
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new RuntimeException( "Unable to get value of cell ("
        + cell.getColumnIndex() + ", " + cell.getRowIndex() + ")", e );
    }
  }

  public String getContents() {
    try {
      Object value = getValue();
      if ( value == null ) {
        return null;
      }
      return value.toString();
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new RuntimeException( "Unable to get string content of cell ("
        + cell.getColumnIndex() + ", " + cell.getRowIndex() + ")", e );
    }
  }

  public int getRow() {

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